Pitching 101: Disrupt A Hitter's Timing 🤔

Hey There Friend!

One of the first concepts you should teach your pitcher is that her job is to help create outs for her team. Weak contacts or swing and misses are created most often because a hitter is off-time!

This means that one of our biggest responsibilities as coaches, or as parents that want to help their daughter succeed, is to understand HOW we can get her to disrupt a hitter's timing.

Today, I'm sharing THREE things that affect a hitter's ability to be on-time at contact:

1. Throw pitches at different speeds - LEARN A CHANGE-UP

After your pitcher has a solid base with her mechanics and can throw strikes consistently with her fastball, the next pitch she should start developing is a change-up. It's a pitch that will be crucial to her success against good hitters because it's the most obvious way to keep hitters off-time and uncomfortable in the box.

Don't skip taking the TIME to truly help you pitcher gain confidence in a change-up through consistent reps in her bullpens.

You want her to be able to change speeds at ANY TIME in the count. Don't make the mistake of only changing speeds when your pitcher has an advantage in the count. If she can throw her change-up for a strike, she can use it to get ahead of hitters OR even when she is behind in the count.

Once your pitcher has the confidence to throw both her fastball AND her change-up at any time in the count, she should be really well equipped to keep a hitter guessing! As you begin to develop spin pitches with her next, you may find that she is able to throw a movement pitch that is slower than her fastball, but faster than her change-up. Adding this 3rd speed to her pitch mix can make it even more difficult for hitters to be on-time when they swing!

2. Throw pitches to different locations, understand "EFFECTIVE VELOCITY"

Remember, where your pitcher LOCATES the ball also plays a critical role in getting a hitter to be off-time at contact!

Understanding and using "effective velocity" can change how she sequences pitches and works to help produce outs.

If Effective Velocity is a new concept to you, HERE is a simple chart that visually explains it.

The closer to the hitter's hands the ball is thrown, the higher the effective velocity (seems faster) and the farther away from the hitter's hands the ball is thrown, the lower the effective velocity (seems slower).

If you'd like to learn more about EV, check out Perry Husband's book, "Downright Filthy Pitching."

3. Take advantage of ways to improve your pitcher's "PERCEIVED VELOCITY"

You've likely seen a pitcher that appeared to throw a lot faster than her actual velocity shows. This pitcher has what’s called a high perceived velocity.

There are several things that can affect how hard a pitcher seems to throw, all of which can cause a hitter to be off-time to contact:

• Stride Length: A pitcher that throws 60mph with a 7’ stride will SEEM to throw harder than a pitcher that throws the same actual velocity (60mph) with a 5’ stride because the hitter won’t get to see the ball as long.
• Hiding the Ball: Using a wind-up that doesn’t show the hitter the ball until the latest possible moment is something that can create a high perceived velocity and make a pitcher “sneaky” fast.
• Mixing Speeds: A pitcher that throws a change-up or off-speed pitch often will increase perception speed to her fastball. After seeing a pitch that is slower, the faster pitch may “seem” 2-3mph faster than it would if speeds weren’t mixed. It’s very hard for hitters to be on time when they must consistently guess what speed is coming.
• Mixing Locations: Moving pitches closer to a hitter’s hands increases perceived velocity. If a hitter sees a pitch that is low and away followed by a pitch that is up and in on her hands, there is a significant difference in the timing she must adjust to going from one location to the next!

Think about how you can use one or more of these concepts to help your pitcher keep hitters uncomfortable and off-time in the box, my friend! It can make a big change in her ability to help her team create outs!

As always, I'm HERE if you have questions! I'd love to help you on your pitching journey!

All My Best,

Myndie